Corruption

Todd Blanche's Concessions Underline the Flagrant Phoniness of Trump's IRS 'Settlement'

The acting attorney general confirms his dishonesty in presenting that jaw-dropping scam as the resolution of a bona fide legal dispute.

Jacob Sullum | 8.3.2026 2:10 PM

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(JNA Press/Allison Bailey/Sipa USA/Newscom)

On Sunday night, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that he had agreed to change the terms of President Donald Trump's "settlement agreement" with the IRS. Blanche formally rescinded his May 18 order establishing a $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" designed to benefit the president's friends and followers, and he issued a statement about the scope of the IRS immunity he gave Trump in another order issued on May 19. Those moves were aimed at addressing the concerns of two Republican senators who had held up the Senate Judiciary Committee's vote on Blanche's nomination as attorney general.

Although Blanche's concessions may clear the way for his confirmation, they underline the flagrant phoniness of a brazenly corrupt arrangement that he dishonestly portrays as the result of a bona fide legal dispute between Trump and the IRS. Trump's lawsuit against the agency, which alleged damages from an IRS contractor's illegal disclosure of his tax returns, never involved a genuine controversy between adverse parties. It was a transparent excuse for granting Trump, his family, and his supporters huge favors at taxpayers' expense. By itself, Blanche's approval of that jaw-dropping scam makes him unfit to run the Justice Department.

Trump's lawsuit pitted him against an agency he oversees, represented by Justice Department lawyers who also answer to him. It was legally doomed right out of the gate because he missed the statutory deadline for filing such claims. And even if he had filed his lawsuit on time, he would have faced the challenge of arguing that an IRS contractor qualifies as an "officer or employee of the United States"—a point that the Justice Department has disputed in other cases involving similar claims.

Despite those legal weaknesses, the government's lawyers never bothered to contest Trump's claims, in sharp contrast with the way they usually handle such lawsuits. Instead, the Justice Department agreed to what Trump has described as "a settlement with myself."

That product of admitted self-dealing included $1.8 billion in taxpayer money for Trump supporters who claim they suffered from abuses of power during the Biden administration. Blanche approved........

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